Is Plaxico Buress the Answer for the Cleveland Browns?

As the 2010 season starts to wind down, priorities are changing for many front offices around the NFL.

The time is closing in where evaluations for next season will start becoming deeper in their breadth, and GM’s will start considering which pieces need to be added to the puzzle to ultimately make the team more competitive next season.

Looking at the Browns, the shortcomings are numerous. The LB corps could use help, the CB’s could stand bolstering, as could the defensive line and safety positions. The position that seems to be the biggest need, however, the WR position.

The entire Browns WR corps has combined for 89 receptions, 953 yards and three TD’s (Those numbers are strictly WR’s, and Evan Moore is not included as he’s listed as a TE).

That’s right, the entire corps has combined for numbers that are well shy of what Brandon Lloyd and Roddy White have already posted in only three-quarters of a season, and will be shy of what Terrell Owens, Reggie Wayne, Dwayne Bowe and several others will have by season's end.

Obviously the WR position is of critical importance for the Browns moving into the 2011 season, and we all know that it will be a position of importance to Holmgren and Mangini in the draft.

The first target will undoubtedly be A.J. Green, who many scouts have said reminds them of Larry Fitzgerald, but with better speed. That’s high praise, and I’m sure we all hope Cleveland can pull that off.

Should Cleveland consider signing Plaxico Burress at season's end?

Yes! - Cleveland needs a playmaker at the position!Maybe - Depends on if he's really changed.NO! - Mike Vick is a special story, and Plaxico isn't worth the gamble.Submit Votevote to see results

Should Cleveland consider signing Plaxico Burress at season's end?

Yes! - Cleveland needs a playmaker at the position!

55.3%

Maybe - Depends on if he's really changed.

27.0%

NO! - Mike Vick is a special story, and Plaxico isn't worth the gamble.

17.7%

Total votes: 919

But, I want to look at what Cleveland can do to address the position through Free Agency and maybe think outside the box, looking at one person in particular.

So here’s a question, Browns nation: If Plaxico Burress is available, should Cleveland entertain signing him?

Surely most people will say “he’s got character issues," or “he’s a head case,” the list goes on. However, if there’s one thing we’ve learned in 2010, it’s that second chances can sometimes be worth the gamble.

And no one knows that more than Andy Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles.

Michael Vick’s story is inspiring and in some way. It let’s all of us know that even if the mistake has taken your freedoms, you can still change things and make a bad situation a good one.

Not to mention, with a new found dedication, Mike Vick is among the elite in the NFL right now and is doing what he did at one time for Atlanta: change the game.

Crazy thing is though, he’s even better now than he was then, and he wasn’t too shabby then.

It is my belief that if Burress is available, Cleveland should make a run at him.

When he was playing, he was an elite level player and a game changing WR. Teams had to account, every play, for where Burress was on the field, and that’s something that NO team has to do with Cleveland currently.

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

In Burress’ last season in the NFL, he was on pace for over 900 yards and eight TD's. That is, of course, until he shot himself in the leg...

Idiotic behavior aside, no other WR in Cleveland has done that since Braylon Edwards during his phenomenal 2007 season.

So would it not be worth a look?

I say, emphatically, yes!

It really would be a win/win situation for the Browns. They’d get a good WR who’s better than anything they currently have, and they’d probably get him on the cheap—an added bonus.

Not to mention, while I’ve never been there, I have to believe that time in the clink probably changes a person and forces them to examine themselves and make the changes necessary to be a good/successful human being.

It certainly did For Mike Vick.

Honestly, I tend to believe that if Plaxico Burress has gotten out of his time in jail what Mike Vick did, it could be a very smart move for Cleveland to acquire him.

My guess is they won’t. But if you could bring in a veteran, Pro-Bowl WR to help Massaquoi, Robiskie, and potentially A.J. Green after April’s draft reach new levels of success, then it would be worth it.

People CAN change, and people CAN become better than they were, Mike Vick has shown that. So, could Plaxico Burress be the next Mike Vick? Maybe, maybe not.